Experts Assess Recent Events, Divided About the Possibility of Snap Elections
Expert Polls #15, Georgian Institute of Politics, July, 2021
The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) conducted its fifteenth Expert Poll during July 7 to 17. Twenty-seven Georgian and international scholars and political observers replied to questions about the recent political events and the upcoming local elections in Georgia. The observers seem to be divided on key political issues, their opinions being split on the questions as to whether the Georgian Dream (GD) is likely to win sufficient votes in the upcoming local elections to avoid having to (more…)
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Experts Assess the First 100 Days of the Georgian Dream Government
Expert Polls #14, Georgian Institute of Politics, April 2021
This poll was prepared as a part of The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) report, “The First 100 Days of the Georgian Dream Government: Reality and Challenges.” GIP selected 27 local and international experts, pundits, and scholars, with active involvement in Georgia’s political life, and surveyed them about the issues discussed in the report. The questionnaire was drawn from the report and includes four sections: economic policy, social policy, foreign and security policy, and democracy and human rights. (more…)
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Observers see GD ahead, multiparty parliament
Expert Polls #13, Georgian Institute of Politics, October 2020
The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) conducted its thirteenth expert poll from September 14-20. Fifty Georgian and international political observers answered questions about the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia. As the aggregate results indicate, the majority of Georgian and international experts see the Georgian Dream (GD) party significantly ahead of others and expect a more multiparty parliament. The experts also believe that elections should not be postponed despite recent spike in Covid-19 cases. (more…)
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Observers see government’s image boosted amid COVID-19, split on date of parliamentary elections
Expert Polls #12, Georgian Institute of Politics, June 2020
The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) conducted its 12th expert poll from May 20 to June 4. Fifty-two Georgian and international scholars and political observers answered questions about the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for political processes in Georgia. The results confirmed the trends in the last survey conducted in March 2020. Namely, that the government seems to have handled the crisis well and benefitted politically from it. (more…)
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Democratization and Europeanization in Georgia: How to lead the process?
Levan Kakhishvili, Elene Panchulidze
Despite the fact that European integration is a priority for the Georgian government, public opinion polls demonstrate that there is a lack of public awareness about the processes of Europeanization and democratization. It is not always clear to an average Georgian whether these two processes are the same or completely independent from each other; what each of them implies and whether they are imposed by outside forces or nurtured from within Georgian society. A part of the problem is that Georgian civil society is highly concentrated in Tbilisi. One can argue that most if not all discussions, conferences, roundtables, etc. are attended by the same people over and over again. (more…)
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The last president elected by people? A review of the 2018 presidential elections
Ketevan Goletiani*
On October 28, 2018 Georgia will elect a head of state by popular vote, most likely for the last time. After the president’s swearing-in ceremony, the new version of the Georgian Constitution, which calls for indirect president elections, will go into effect. Political uncertainty during the pre-election period, together with the president’s reduced powers, has diminished voter interest in this election and added to the number of undecided voters, despite the fact that the outcome of the elections may have a serious impact on the country’s internal political life, the democratization process and foreign affairs (more…)
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GIP project: Expert polls provided highly accurate forecasts of local election outcomes
Last year, Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) launched a new method of social surveys – expert polls. Similar polls are widely used in the West, and particularly in the United States. They provide a high level of accuracy in forecasting elections and varying political processes. GIP’s expert polls are based on methodology – developed by prominent American pollster and political researcher Nate Silver – that regularly yields highly accurate results of the US elections.
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Popular Oligarchy: Why the Public Still Supports Georgian Dream
Bidzina Lebanidze*
Recent public surveys have confirmed a paradoxical trend in Georgian political life: despite pressing problems, political blunders, and a troubling socio-economic situation, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party remains the most popular political force in Georgia. It has been almost five years now since GD first came to power, and its list of achievements remains quite short. (more…)
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GIP presents its new report “The First 100 Days of the Georgian Dream Government: A Reality Check”
Georgian Institute of Politics presented its new report “The First 100 Days of the Georgian Dream Government: A Reality Check” on February 22, 2017 at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel.
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The First 100 Days of the Georgian Dream Government: A Reality Check
Kornely Kakachia
Bidzina Lebanidze
Joseph Larsen
Mariam Grigalashvili
The publication analyzes the Georgian Dream (GD) government’s implementation of promised reforms during its first 100 days in office. (more…)
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Georgia’s New Parliament at a Glance
How were MPs of Georgia’s new parliament elected, who hold leadership positions and what is the general structure of our new Parliament?
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FAQ
- What is this about? Expert Polls, an initiative by the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) collects views from 30-50 experts, and presents these views and opinions to the public in an accessible way. The initiative started on October 1, 2016.
- Who is behind this? The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP). Find out more about GIP and its activities on the website.
- What is the advantage of expert polls? Taken together, the views of various experts in most cases will be better than the views of any single expert. For elections, collecting views gives us a good estimate of likely outcomes.
- Why try to predict at all? Identifying the most likely scenarios (while being prepared for others) helps to focus the attention on where it matters. Good estimates can help people to plan, and be prepared.
- Is any single view right? We believe that reasonable people often can have divergent views on an issue, and that everyone wins if they listen to each other. In line with that, expert views show a diversity of views.
- Who are the experts? For our polls we try to recruit a range of opinions, from across the political spectrum, local and international. We reach out to these experts through a variety of means.
- How many experts and engaged observers take part in your polls? We typically try to engage 30-50 experts in our polls. This gives us a good range of opinions. More participants typically do not add much diversity.
- Can I join the experts? If you have a track record of thoughtful contributions, do get in touch and let us know about your work.
- How do you deal with people trying to distort the results? We have a number of ways of cleaning the estimates, based on 10+ years of experience of working with polls.
- Why not just use the results from surveys of citizens? Surveys are incredibly useful tools. For predicting election outcomes, however, they have several major limitations.
- What is your role model? One of our role models is the website FiveThirtyEight by American pollster Nate Silver. His aggregation of polls has regularly yielded accurate results. We are adapting this model to the Georgian context.
- Who funds this activity? This activity is currently funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, for when your project from October 1, 2016
- What about questions not answered here? Get in touch and let us know. We’ll be happy to answer your questions.
Expert Polls
